Amy Balkin Tania Bruguera Candy Chang Minerva Cuevas Agnes Denes Tatyana Fazlalizadeh Karen Finley Coco Fusco Guerrilla Girls Sharon Hayes Lynn Hershman Leeson Jenny Holzer Emily Jacir Suzanne Lacy Marie Lorenz Susan O’Malley Adrian Piper Laurie Jo Reynolds | Tamms Year Ten Favianna Rodriguez Bonnie Ora Sherk Stephanie Syjuco Mierle Laderman Ukeles southern exposure off-site commissions Constance Hockaday Jenifer K. Wofford Edited by Christian L. Frock and Tanya Zimbardo With contributions by María del Carmen Carrión Courtney Fink Leila Grothe Stephanie Hanor, PhD Valerie Imus Meredith Johnson Mills College Art Museum Oakland, California This catalogue is published on the occasion of (ARS), New York: p. 45 Public Works: Artists’ Interventions 1970s–Now, David Cunningham: p. 48 an exhibition organized by the Mills College Gary Nakamoto: p. 57 Art Museum from September 16 through Southern Exposure: p. 58, p. 61 (top), p. 125, p. 127 December 13, 2015. The exhibition is curated Maysha Mohamedi: p. 61 (bottom) by Christian L. Frock and Tanya Zimbardo. SPUR: p. 62 Jason Wyche and Creative Time: p. 66 The exhibition and publication is supported Casey Kelbaugh and Creative Time: p. 69 by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. Creative Time: p. 73 George Lange/Outline: pp. 76-77 © 2015 the authors, artists, and the Mills College John McGrail: p. 87 Art Museum, 5000 MacArthur Boulevard, Dustin Chambers: p. 89 Oakland, California, 94613, www.mcam.mills.edu. Andrea Geyer: p. 97 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may Chris Johnson: p. 105 be reproduced in any manner without permission. Chris Murphy: p. 115 (top) Jeanine Oleson: p. 115 (bottom) Editors: Christian L. Frock and Tanya Zimbardo Publication Coordinator: Maysoun Wazwaz ISBN: 978-0-9854600-2-0 Content Editor: Morgan Pierce LCCN: 2015947294 Designer: John Borruso Printer: Solstice Press Front Cover: Bonnie Ora Sherk, detail of Sitting Still I, 1970, San Francisco. Courtesy the artist Photography: Images courtesy the artists, with Image on Page 2: Karen Finley, 1-900-ALL- additional photography credits below. KAREN, 1998. Courtesy the artist and Fales Robert Campbell: front cover, p. 36, p. 117 Library and Special Collections, New York Timothy Greenfield-Sanders: p. 2 University Andrew Burton/Getty Images: p. 10 Back Cover: Candy Chang, I Wish this Was, New Bob Daemmrich/Corbis Images: p. 13 Orleans, 2010. Courtesy the artist Twitter: pp. 14-15, p. 32 Richard Levine/Corbis Images: p. 16 David Shankbone: p. 23 ©2015 Jenny Holzer/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York: pp. 24-25, p. 101 Facebook: p. 30 CartoDB and SRogers: p. 31 Laurie Jo Reynolds: p. 35 (top) Adrianne Dues: p. 35 (bottom) Mayumi Hamanaka and Kala Art Institute: p. 39 Lawrence Halprin: p. 41 Marion Gray: p. 42 ©2015 Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society Contents Foreword 7 Dr. Stephanie Hanor Whose Public Space Where? Notes on the Politics of Public Works, Private Interests, and the Spaces in Between 11 Christian L. Frock Public Address: Bay Area Performances, Temporary Installations, and Nomadic Projects 37 Tanya Zimbardo Talking Points 59 Leila Grothe and Courtney Fink Talking Points 67 María del Carmen Carrión and Meredith Johnson Works in the Exhibition 77 Public Works: Southern Exposure Off-Site Valerie Imus 122 Contributors 129 Curators’ Acknowledgments 135 Foreword Dr. Stephanie Hanor mills college embraces diversity and social justice as key compo- nents of a vibrant undergraduate women’s education. The school has long been committed to challenging social, cultural, and economic inequalities in order to enhance and support critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. The artists in Public Works: Artists’ Inter- ventions 1970s–Now embody this ethos, creating works that explore the inherent politics and social conditions of creating art in public space. This is one of the first museum exhibitions to examine the unique perspective of public practice by women artists from the 1970s to the present. Public Works moves beyond the traditional view of public art as permanent and monumental sculpture or installation. Instead, the exhi- bition focuses on often small but powerful artistic interventions in the urban environment that function as a forum for exchange between artists and a wide-reaching public. Currently there is a strong interest in art and social engagement projects that are designed to invoke critical thinking and reflection about social issues and to catalyze action toward making positive change to address those issues. Many of the artists in the exhibi- tion have a sustained history of addressing these ideas and several projects are ongoing. Public Works demonstrates the precedents for these actions in the groundbreaking early work of artists in the 1970s, while exploring contemporary women artists’ practices in the public realm. The exhibition showcases the works of Amy Balkin, Tania Bruguera, Candy Chang, Minerva Cuevas, Agnes Denes, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Karen Finley, Coco Fusco, Guerrilla Girls, Sharon Hayes, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Jenny Holzer, Emily Jacir, Suzanne Lacy with Unique Holland, 7 Annice Jacoby, Chris Johnson, and Julio César Morales, Marie Lorenz, Susan O’Malley, Adrian Piper, Laurie Jo Reynolds with Tamms Year Ten, Jeanine Oleson and Jean Casella/Solitary Watch, Favianna Rodriguez, Bonnie Ora Sherk, Stephanie Syjuco, and Mierle Laderman Ukeles. The exhibition curators and I are grateful for each of the artist’s participation and support of Public Works. Many have helped create new iterations of the presentations of their projects, at times adding material that has not been exhibited previously. Public Works is curated by Christian L. Frock, independent curator, writer, and founder of Invisible Venue, and Tanya Zimbardo, Assistant Curator of Media Arts at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Their various curatorial practices have focused on the presentation and examination of public art and interventions, site-specific installations, avant-garde publications and multiples, and alternative spaces. Together, they have done an outstanding job of bringing together a compelling selection of work that illuminates and contextualizes artists’ actions within public space as an active form of expression, action, and life. I appreciate the dedication, insightfulness, and good humor that they have both brought to this exhibition and publication. This exhibition would not have been possible without the help of many people. In particular, in addition to each exhibiting artist, I would like to thank the following individuals and institutions who graciously agreed to lend works from their collection for the exhibition, helped with research, fabrication, and programming, and who provided images for this publica- tion: Deborah Bruguera from Studio Tania Bruguera; Amelia Hinojosa at Kurimanzutto, Mexico City; Leslie Tonkonow and Tyler Auwarter at Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York; Rachel Greer and Emily King at the Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University; Laurianne Ojo-Ohikuare; Ursula Davila-Villa and Chad Seelig at Alex- ander Gray Associates, New York; Patrick Armstrong at Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin; Alanna Gedgaudas from Jenny Holzer’s studio; Neal Benezra, Sandra S. Phillips, Corey Keller, Tina Garfinkel, Maria Naula, and Gretchen Sawatzki at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Megan Steinman from Suzanne Lacy’s studio; Celia Kitchell and Jessica Howard from Lynn Hershman Leeson’s studio; Andrew Sloat; Ed Gilbert and Shannon Trimble from Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco; Vanessa Blaikie and Joey Piziali from Romer Young Gallery, San Francisco; Joanna Górska from Galeria Rusz, Warsaw; Tim Caro Bruce; Lisa Fischman and 8 Bo K. Mompho at the Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Massachusetts; Jeanine Oleson; Catharine Clark at Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco; Michael Ahn at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York; Anne Pasternak at Creative Time, New York; Leah Rosenberg; Enar de Dios Rodriguez. This exhibition has created opportunities for institutional collabora- tion, and many thanks go to Courtney Fink and Valerie Imus at Southern Exposure, San Francisco for their participation in organizing two off-site interventions with Constance Hockaday and Jenifer K. Wofford in con- junction with the exhibition. I am grateful to the catalogue contributors Leila Grothe, director of curatorial affairs, 500 Capp Street, and assistant curator, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, and María del Carmen Carrión, director of public programs and research, Independent Curators International, New York. Their respective conversations with Courtney Fink, executive director of Southern Exposure, San Francisco and Meredith Johnson, curator and director of consulting at Creative Time, New York, illuminate the critical role of non-profit and alternative art spaces on the west and east coasts in commissioning ambitious public art projects and reconceptualizing the experience of engaging the public in artists’ work. I am also grateful to John Borruso for his thoughtful design in creating this important publication and to Morgan Peirce for her thoroughness and critical eye in editing the catalogue. The Mills College Art Museum is lucky to have a strong exhibition and programming team. I am indebted to the museum’s staff, Stacie Daniels and Maysoun Wazwaz, for their valuable input, creativity, and ability to manage the multitude of tasks and details required to success- fully realize an exhibition and publication of this